Cast your minds back to December 2002, Buster is 4, Scut is 3 months old and my husband is in the US of A working for 2 weeks.. Its cold, I'm overwhelmed and sleep deprived and Buster is being.. well.. very autistic, really missing his Dad, not understanding it and treating me to meltdowns daily at least.
My big sister very kindly decided to come visit us with her 3 kids to keep us company for the weekend.
We decided to give the kids a treat and take them all out to a farm/petting zoo place where you could also see Santa and have hot choc and mince pies afterwards.. a recent blog about rose tinted glasses comes to mind when I planned our perfect day out, the kids all sitting happily around the table, rosy cheeked from all the activity, excitedly looking at the present Santa gave them while gently sipping hot chocolate.
We made it to the farm and Buster immediately took a shine to a digger which was in a sandpit and occupied by another little fella. As soon as the child even blinked Buster was on the digger shifting sand like his life depended on it. Then it was time to look at the animals, not Buster though, he wasn't getting off the digger. Then time to see Santa, no chance, I'm busy on this digger. The others all come out with presents, That don't impress Buster much, too much digging to do.. All in for mince pies and hot chocolate, even the promise of taytos won't shift him.
I had to carry Buster out to the car kicking and screaming (through the coffee shop with all the folks enjoying their mince pies) and in my wisdom I decided to go in to Santa and get Buster's present for him, figuring he would probably want it later when he saw the others playing with them.
I walked in to Santa in his little hut, he looked a bit surprised, looking around to see if I had a child with me. I explained that Buster is autistic and won't get off the digger, but asked could I take his present as he would want it later.
Santa then made the fatal mistake of BEING NICE. He looked at me and said "I hope Santa brings mammy a special present this christmas".. that was it folks, full blown tears running down my face, big gulping sobs the lot. Poor Santa didn't know what to do, the elves came in and looked at Santa and my face and left again, we were both there, me blubbering and Santa in shock. Then I had to go through the coffee shop again looking like someone escaping from somewhere, the nice people really got value for their money that day !
Do I ever get sad ? Nah I'd rather do it in style and get hysterical !
I know where you are coming from on this one, I go all guns blazing preparing myself for the stares and the tut tutting and then it only takes one person to be nice to me and the facade comes tumbling down like a pack of cards around me!! Another one that likes to do things in style lol.
ReplyDeleteI am always ready for the fight too and am stumped when someone is nice or 'gets it'. Suppose we go around prepared for the bad stuff, humming like a tight string all the time, until someone unwinds us a bit! Jen
ReplyDeleteExactly, thanks girls for commenting and "getting it"
ReplyDeleteAww..sad yet funny! And totally brings me right back to our early days too. Yuou know, to this day my almost 11 year old LOVES the digger in the playground and playing with the sand too.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the Blogsphere! I hope you enjoy it. Blogging can be quite cathartic.. you can get a lot of things anonymously (kind of!) off your chest ;-)
Now ,let me go follow you!
xx Jazzy
Awww...Santa was there for you, even though you were all grown up.
ReplyDeleteGood story. Anyone who's ever been hysterical (raises hand) can relate.
*BlogGems #23*
Hi there, thanks for popping by (http://tillytatas.blogspot.com). I know exactly how you feel. My Nipper has just been diagnosed with Asperger's (you can read about that part of our life at http://non-neurotypicalnipper.blogspot.com). We have days like this from the digger to the santa sobbing. I'm doing quite a bit of the sobbing at the moment as I come to terms with Nipper's diagnosis. Hard isn't it! I'll be putting you on my blogroll on Non-neurotypical Nipper if you don't mind.
ReplyDeleteSee Santa is real and he's there for us all lol x x
ReplyDeleteJust popped over from Blog Gems x x
Hmm, was that 'rose tinted glasses' in reference to a post I did over the summer about a trip to the beach?? Very familiar with this situation. I know I commented on this post at the time, but wanted to comment again:) Jen (Blog Gems)
ReplyDeleteThanks Jen, yes the rose tinted glasses were from your beach trip, didn't know how to link to it but guessed most of ye would recognise it.. thanks for all the comments folks
ReplyDelete